exploring the gap between teacher … · exploring the gap between teacher certification and...

Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, Issue #175, January 9, 2016.

© by CJEAP and the author(s).

EXPLORING THE GAP BETWEEN TEACHER CERTIFICATION

AND PERMANENT EMPLOYMENT IN ONTARIO:

AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

Allison Brock and Thomas G. Ryan, Nipissing University

The following integrative literature review illuminates the perceptible time

gap that currently exists for new Ontario teachers graduating and moving

from teacher preparation programs to permanent members of the Ontario

teaching community. At a time of oversupply of teachers, many new teachers

within Ontario and beyond its borders become occasional teachers and must

wait several years before gaining permanent teaching employment. Due to

this extended wait time for a permanent contract position, it is important to

explore just how occasional teachers remain prepared. Herein the question of

whether new teachers are prepared for a permanent position after a period of

occasional teaching is addressed.

Introduction

There is a widening time frame (gap) between the completion of teacher preparation

programs and permanent employment as a teacher, especially in Ontario. Indeed, “the teacher

surplus in Ontario is now so large that half the new education graduates will face five or more

years of job searching to gain full employment as teachers” (Ontario College of Teachers, 2013,

back cover). Opportunities for new teachers are reduced because there are fewer potential

students to fill schools: “Most Ontario DSBs [District School Boards] have fewer students and

schools than they used to” (Miller, 2011, p. 39). Also reducing the employment opportunities for

new teachers is the fact that teachers are not retiring as early as they once had, and more retired

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Exploring the Gap Between Teacher Certification and Permanent Employment in Ontario

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teachers are double-dipping by securing places on occasional teacher lists ahead of newly

qualified teachers.

New teachers frequently begin their careers as occasional teachers, and evidence will

demonstrate that occasional teachers are not provided with satisfactory professional development

in order to remain current during this time. In Ontario, it is likely several years before newly

certified teachers gain permanent employment as teachers, and, therefore, it seems important to

ask, Are they still current and prepared?

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this review is to examine and explore via available literature, the

obstacles newly certified teachers who become occasional teachers encounter while attempting

to remain prepared to teach, and while waiting for a permanent position within the province of

Ontario. We believe it is of the utmost importance to all stakeholders such as school boards that

they employ highly qualified and prepared individuals to teach their students. Investigating

whether new teachers who become occasional teachers remain prepared to teach after an

extended wait time will address a key question in existing literature which focuses primarily on

whether new teachers are prepared for their first year of teaching, assuming that they obtain

employment immediately after certification.

The objectives are to determine and illuminate via current and available literature, the

ways new and occasional teachers remain prepared to teach while they search for permanent

employment; to determine if and how occasional teachers are being supported as teachers by the

school boards where they are employed; to identify reasons occasional teachers are not prepared

to teach; and to recommend ways in which administrators, school boards, and faculties of


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education can better prepare new teachers who become occasional teachers for their often

inordinate wait time.

Background

More research needs to examine new teacher preparedness (Al-Bataineh, 2009;

Authier, 2012; Fennell, 1993; Imbibo & Silvernail, 1999). Today, minimal research exists that

examines whether new teachers who become (short term [ST] or long term [LT]) occasional

teachers, while waiting for permanent employment, continue to be current and prepared as the

years of occasional teaching grow. Currently, many new teachers find themselves on an

occasional teachers (supply/substitute) list waiting for permanent work. Many remain on

occasional teaching lists for years after graduation, hoping for full-time employment. While

waiting, a teacher may be called upon to occasionally teach in any subject area and sometimes

may be offered a long term occasional position (LTO) to experience “real teaching” over a

period of weeks, or months. Real teaching experience according to the Ontario College of

Teachers Transition to Teaching 2013 report includes “establishing climate, covering the full

breadth of the curriculum, adapting teaching to varying learning styles, assessment and

evaluation, report cards, communicating with parents and so on” (p. 42). However, based on the

time between certification and permanent employment school administrators can reasonably

question if occasional teachers, who completed their teacher preparation possibly several years

earlier, continue to be prepared to fill current permanent teaching positions (Latifoglu, 2014).


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Integrative Review of Literature

The goal of the Ontario Ministry of Education, school boards, administrators, and

educators is to provide students with the best education possible. Indeed, “the preparation of

teachers is of vital importance to our nation’s educational system. If we are to ensure our

students the best possible education, we must provide them with teachers who have been well

prepared” (Al-Bataineh, 2009, p. 236). This requires ensuring that those who complete their

teacher certification are properly prepared, but also ensuring that those who become occasional

teachers while they wait to become permanent teachers remain current and prepared (Latifoglu,

2014).

According to Pearce (2012), “teachers who have recently graduated from teacher

education programs find themselves entering a grim employment market resulting from

declining teacher retirement rates since the early 2000s” (p. 6). In Ontario, there were 12,200

new teachers to 4,600 retirements in 2011 (OCT, 2011, p. 2). This problem is province-wide and

“few studies have documented the experience of substitute teachers, and even fewer have

explored the work in Canadian contexts” (Duggleby & Badali, 2007, p. 23). The focus of most

research has been on whether pre-service teachers are prepared (Al-Bataineh, 2009), not on

whether they continue to remain prepared while working as occasional teachers, during the wait

time between completion of a professional education program and permanent employment.

Because the often extended gap in time is such a recent phenomenon, there appears to be limited

research that addresses this specific problem: “Increasingly, new Ontario teachers need even

greater determination just to get into a classroom as the search for jobs—even part-time supply

teaching—grows longer and longer for many of them” (McIntyre, 2011, para. 1).


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This wait time can potentially have detrimental effects on new teachers and their

preparedness (Latifoglu, 2014). If new teachers become (ST/LT) occasional teachers and are not

provided with support and professional development by the boards they work for, and if they are

unable to participate in professional development on their own, there may be reason for concern

on the part of administrators that, following the gap, occasional teachers are no longer current or

prepared to assume the responsibilities of a permanent classroom teacher.

Pearce (2012) suggests it is essential to provide new teachers with considerable support,

including opportunities for mentoring, along with formal and informal learning, as “teachers tend

to improve their practice very early in their career. . . . Beginning teachers do an enormous

amount of learning that contributes to a competent professional practice, before settling in to

their desired practices” (p. 31). A problem lies with our current situation as new Ontario teachers

are often occasional teachers (ST/LT) for several years following training and certification. This

gap before permanent employment is actually more serious since many occasional teachers do

not have support from programs such as the New Teacher Induction Program (NTIP), which is

only offered once teachers have either a permanent position or are filling a long term occasional

(LTO) position.

Method

The research approach used herein is known as an integrative review (IR), which is a

form of research that “reviews, critiques, and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an

integrated way” (Torraco, 2011, p. 356). Its purpose is to make “a significant and value-added

contribution” to a particular field (Torraco, 2011, p. 358). The outcome is not a synthesis alone

but rather a construction of new contexts, positions, and perspectives. Our IR (empirical), one of


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three possible modes of IR, caused us to gather, examine, and distill literature related to our topic

(critical review of quantitative or qualitative studies on a particular topic, with analysis of

results . . .) (Whittemore & Knafl, 2005).

The IR of literature began by accessing university library websites to search e-resources

under the education category. Numerous databases were then used to search the many terms and

descriptors, such as, “new teachers,” “newly qualified teacher preparedness,” “beginning teacher

preparedness,” “substitute teacher,” “occasional teacher,” “casual teacher,” “supply teacher,”

“teacher employment,” “occasional teacher professional development,” and “oversupply of

teachers.” This step follows the advice of Soares et al., (2014) who speak to methodological rigor

in the IR, suggesting,

. . . in regard to the research question, the reviewer should guarantee the

appropriateness of the keywords or concepts, and the methodology used to

verify whether the studies selected respond to the research question. Two

evaluators are required for the data codification phase. . . . (p. 335)

Each of us gathered 56 pertinent articles and research, which was retrieved through databases

such as Education Research Complete, ERIC, the Google Scholar search engine, and CBCA

Complete. Twelve of the articles and research papers that were located did not pertain to the

current topic of study either because they were antiquated (out of date before 2000), or did not

directly address the specific issues of our study. Seventeen resources were deemed less than

scholarly (rigorous) or too different from the Ontario context to be included. Once the 27 articles

were considered to be appropriate, they were read, analyzed, and coded to identify specific

themes related to the topic of study. The specific themes identified were the preparedness of

newly certified teachers (9), the lived experience of occasional teachers (6), formal and informal

learning (8), support received from schools and boards (7), and reasons why occasional teachers

are not prepared for the realities faced by a permanent teacher (5). We also found that some


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resources/articles could be linked to more than one theme and that some studies provided similar

outcomes/conclusions.

Preparedness: Newly Certified Teachers

Over the years, opinions and research have differed as to whether newly certified

teachers have been properly prepared for the classroom as well as for all the responsibilities

associated with being a permanent classroom teacher. Al-Bataineh (2009) concluded that

“literature shows that pre-service teachers encounter most difficulty in trying to make sense of

the notions of teaching based on their preparation in the university with the reality they

encounter in the classroom” (p. 232). It is important, however, to acknowledge that preparedness

is often a relative term, depending on who makes the assessment (Latifoglu, 2014).

Fennell (1993) examined student teachers’ self-evaluations of their preparedness for

their teaching internships. The results of the study revealed that “students felt they had been

well-prepared for their internships, particularly with regard to planning, questioning, and models

of instruction. The one area in which students felt they had not been adequately prepared was

classroom management” (as cited in Al-Bataineh, 2009, p. 237). In another study conducted by

Mary Faire (1994, as cited in Al-Bataineh, 2009), with regards to teacher preparedness,

supervising professors felt “student teachers had not been adequately prepared to plan instruction

or express performance objectives, and needed more development opportunities to relate to

children, engage in effective classroom management, and develop the overall learning

environment” (p. 238).

In the past, new teachers were hired directly after completing their teacher preparation

programs and, therefore, were able to implement immediately all the skills and strategies they


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had learned in their teacher preparation program (Latifoglu, 2014). It seems likely then, that

these new teachers were able to quickly identify their strengths and the ways they were prepared

to teach as well as their weaknesses and things they were not prepared for in the field of

teaching. Now, because most new teachers do not have their own class of students until several

years after the completion of their preparation program, they may be unaware of ways they are

and are not prepared until much later (Authier, 2012).

Al-Bataineh (2009) suggests, “pre-service teachers do not spend enough time in the

classroom to understand the full extent of teachers’ role and responsibilities” (p. 232). The need

for more time in the classroom is one reason why the Ontario Ministry of Education along with

universities in Ontario that offer teacher preparation programs have, starting September 2015,

decided to extend teaching programs from one year to two. Pollock (2010b) recommends that

new teachers “require the most support and seek this support on a number of fronts: classroom

management, instructional strategies, accessing actual work, networking, and subject and

discipline content” (p. 20). Perhaps increasing the length of time spent in the classroom during

pre-service training as well as providing programs such as NTIP will enhance new teachers’

preparedness. In Cherubini’s (2009) study, newly certified teachers reported that they

“. . . felt so much more confident” because of their professional competence in

the classroom and in the school community were validated not only by the

autonomy afforded to make their own decisions, but by the fact that such

decisions were respected by their colleagues. (p. 190)

Life as an Occasional Teacher

Recent Ontario provincial legislations states:

a teacher is an occasional teacher if he or she is employed by a board to teach

as a substitute for a teacher or temporary teacher who is or was employed by


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the board in a position that is part of its regular teaching staff including

continuing education teachers. (Section 1(1.1) Education Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.

E.2) (Government of Ontario, 2010)

This provincial legislation does suggest the short term occasional (STO) is a substitute

and the long term occasional (LTO) is a temporary teacher. These distinctions are key to our

understanding of the occupational entry points for teachers in Ontario. Recent Ontario

regulation

274/12 was filed by the provincial government on September 11, 2012 under

the Education Act. The regulation establishes steps all publicly funded school

boards are required to follow when hiring for long-term occasional (LTO) and

new permanent teaching positions. Under the regulation, school boards must

establish and maintain two occasional teacher lists: A roster of occasional

teachers; a long-term occasional teachers’ list. An occasional teacher’s

ranking on the roster is based on seniority. The roster must include the names

of all occasional teachers hired by the school board, the day each occasional

teacher was placed on the roster, and a summary of each occasional teacher’s

teaching experience. School boards are required to update their rosters

regularly. (Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, 2012, p. 1)

The development of regulation 274/12 was motivated by supposed unfair hiring practices

(nepotism) and general disorganization when it came to hiring from a pool of occasional

teachers. However, regulation 274/12 means that a new teacher must be on the roster for 10

months and have taught for 20 days therein before being able to move to the LTO roster

(seniority list) (Ferguson, Benzie, & Rushowy, 2013). This has created more problems as some

argue that the best teacher is not always hired and instead those only from the LTO roster with

seniority could be considered for a new permanent position (Ferguson et al., 2013). Specifically,

teachers must have:

completed a long-term assignment in a school of the board that was at least

four months long and in respect of which the teacher has not received an

unsatisfactory evaluation;

the required qualifications for the position;

the highest ranking under section 2; and

agreed to be interviewed. (O. Reg. 274/12, s. 7 (3))


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This reality coupled with the fact that the employment market for new teachers is already

saturated caused the Ontario College of Teachers Transition to Teaching 2013 report to

conclude:

Most new teachers are in daily supply jobs for increasing durations. Daily

supply teaching now comprises some of the early months of teaching careers

for the majority of new Ontario teachers. Many of them are confined to

supply teaching for years. (p. 42)

Ontario is not alone: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and New South Wales have also

experienced an oversupply of teachers. In British Columbia, “there are roughly 3,300 certified

teachers for 900 teaching jobs in the province every year” (Hyslop, 2014). In Nova Scotia, in

2012, “the Department of Education published a report that showed that the annual supply of

newly certified teachers far-outweighs the annual demand (NS Teacher Supply and Demand,

2012)” (Saunders, 2013). Pietsch and Williamson (2007) found, “today’s beginning teachers

enter the profession in an uncertain and fragmented employment . . . characterised by short term

contract work and successive rather than continuous appointments” (p. 16).

For newly certified teachers, just getting on an occasional teachers list is the major first

step towards future permanent employment. Occasional teaching can provide the opportunity for

new teachers to get to know the schools, staff, and students within their school board. According

to Building Futures: A Day of Learning and Resources for Teacher Candidates: Occasional

Teaching, there are many benefits to beginning one’s teaching career as an occasional teacher.

Occasional teaching provides a “good introduction to teaching—exposure to a variety of grade

levels and subjects; opportunities to meet administrators, teachers, communities, and students;

occasion to recognize different teaching and administrative styles, classroom management

techniques” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2012). Although occasional teachers “will not

necessarily be able to provide the differentiated activities expected of regular class teachers . . .


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this does not mean that the children are not provided with quality learning experiences”

(Daminanos, 2012, p. 33). One must remember that occasional teachers are trained professionals

who have been hired by school boards to provide a learning experience for their students while

the regular classroom teacher is unavailable (Authier, 2012).

The Ontario College of Teachers’ Transition to Teaching 2013 report found, “some

teachers report that daily supply roles help them ease into the teaching role. They learn from the

organization, lesson-planning and varying styles of the experienced teachers they replace” (p.

42). By working as occasional teachers, newly certified teachers have the opportunity to work in

their chosen profession while acquiring new skills and to have a variety of teaching experiences

while they wait for permanent employment.

When faced with an oversupply of teachers, the New South Wales (NSW) Department

of Training and Education claimed that being an occasional teacher is an appropriate way to

begin a career: “For teachers awaiting permanent appointment, casual and temporary

employment provides great opportunities to further develop professional skills” (Pietsch &

Williamson, 2009, p. 2). Many occasional teachers would agree with Damianos’ (2012) findings

that “their line of work should be a pre-requisite experience for all regular teachers prior to

securing a full-time contract, as it provides an all-encompassing knowledge of pedagogical skills

and instructional functions” (p. 122). This is not to say, however, that the experience one gains as

an occasional teacher will adequately prepare one for the realities of having a class of one’s own;

it is indeed very different (Authier, 2012).

Occasional teachers face many unique and contradictory expectations for the work they

do. In a somewhat idealistic sense, occasional teachers must assume the responsibilities of the

regular classroom teacher in order to minimize disruption of the normal teaching and learning


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environment due to the regular teacher’s absence. Damianos (2012) found that when the roles of

the occasional teacher and that of the regular classroom teacher are compared, the role of the

occasional teacher demands “levels of competence, confidence and flexibility more complex

than those needed by permanent teachers” (p. 31).

Other researchers are not so optimistic or positive with respect to the work of

occasional teachers: Curtis (2002) found it “fairly self-evident that supply teachers aren’t as

effective as permanent teachers. They need time to get used to a school’s ethos. . . . And they

don’t last that long in one school” (p. 23). Perhaps the most accurate and balanced assessment of

occasional teachers’ work is simply that occasional teachers experience life in the classroom

differently than permanent teachers. Damianos (2012) explains: “Existing in a different realm of

experience, substitute teachers’ interests and practices are frequently perceived in different and

often conflicting terms to those concerning permanent teachers” (p. 24). Because they often have

little or no knowledge of the school culture, occasional teachers “have a difficult time entering

into the life and work of the school” (Duggleby & Badali, 2007, p. 25).

Structural constraints. Occasional teachers face structural constraints that limit their

opportunities to teach; as well, their “involvement with students’ learning can only be partial and

limited, considering . . . the time constraints under which they operate” (Damianos, 2012, p. 26).

By virtue of the occasional teacher’s transitory position, effective teaching performance is

perplexing, since “even the most dedicated teacher cannot succeed in the classroom without

sufficient information about the school, students, and classroom practices” (Duggleby & Badali,

2007, p. 30). Occasional teachers appear to never fully understand the job of a regular teacher,

partially because of their lack of access to other professional teachers (Latifoglu,

2014). Duggleby and Badali (2007) contend that “learning is socially situated, and learning . . .


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to do a job, can only take place when there is social interaction among all involved parties”

(p. 24).

In Damianos’s (2012) research on the professional discourse of occasional secondary

teachers, several occasional teachers spoke about their concerns “of lost or atrophied teaching

skills resulting from the implementation of another’s planned activities, as opposed to one’s

own” (p. 64). Occasional teachers do not have “as many responsibilities as the regular teacher:

meeting with parents, making sure children are attaining the learning objectives and structuring

the curriculum so you fit everything into these objectives that they should be learning”

(Damianos, 2012, p. 102). In contrast to regular teachers, occasional teachers invest little or no

time planning lessons or supervising co-curricular activities and the occasional teachers valued

“being relieved of the many demands . . . placed on their full time colleagues” (Damianos, 2012,

p. 99).

By far, the most negative finding regarding occasional teaching is the role it plays in

causing a loss of skills. Damianos’ (2012) research points to “an erosion of pedagogical skills”

for occasional teachers, where one occasional teacher “succinctly summed up the effects on his

teaching craft. . . . You start losing your teaching abilities, your creativity, because they are not

being practiced” (p. 91). Another occasional teacher “emphasized how the lack of collegial

affirmation of one’s teaching abilities could result in feelings of devaluation, defined here again

in terms of merely supervising rather than teaching” (Damianos, 2012, p. 93). One of the authors

of the present article spent many days as an occasional teacher simply supervising students as

they completed worksheets, overseeing computer periods, or showing movies that have been left

by the regular teacher.


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When Pietsch and Williamson (2009) researched the work of occasional teachers,

although the NSW Department of Training and Education made positive endorsements of

occasional teaching, the researchers found occasional teaching to be

an inappropriate way in which to launch a teaching career. . . . It is . . . [a] less

than optimal means by which newly qualified teachers can build on the

knowledge and professional practical skills attained in initial teacher

education to develop competency as a teacher. (p. 2)

Occasional teachers, not being permanent members of school staff, most often miss out on

professional development or professional learning communities [PLCs] that take place at the

school level.

A major obstacle that occasional teachers experience is the indifference by

administrators to the occasional teachers’ situation. Research by Perkins and Becker (1966, as

cited in Damianos, 2012) described occasional teachers as “forgotten insofar as training and

orientation are concerned” (p. 28). Pollock (2010b) revealed how

occasional teachers have limited access to formal professional learning, rely

heavily on informal learning to support their work and require skills and

knowledge that is different from those teachers in full-time permanent

teaching positions. Occasional teachers are motivated to seek out informal and

formal modes of learning as current professional learning opportunities do not

always meet their specific professional development needs. (p. 21)

According to Pollock’s (2010a) research, many occasional teachers realized, “to be

successful they had to engage in a considerable amount of unpaid work (e.g. volunteering),

attend a great deal of informal and formal learning, and eventually accept any and all daily

occasional work” (para. 12). Working as an occasional teacher, however, appears to offer little

support for preparedness, because experienced teachers often provide mixed reviews of the

occasional teachers’ work as their replacements. Clifton and Rambaran (1987) found that some

teachers did not consider occasional teachers to be professionals. In lesson plan instructions, full-


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time teachers frequently instructed occasional teachers to assign “busy work” or to simply re-

teach material.

Authier’s (2012) study on the factors that influence the effectiveness and satisfaction of

occasional teachers reveals that occasional teachers report feeling less effective the longer they

spend working as occasional teachers (p. 30). As paradoxical as this claim seems, Authier (2012)

offers the following reasonable explanation:

Perhaps this is because after six or more years as an occasional teacher, some

participants have stronger feelings of being “isolated and unaccepted in the

schools they frequent” . . . which may make it more difficult to keep up with

the changing nature of the classroom. (p. 50)

This lack of confidence and these feelings of ineffectiveness certainly point to the need for

support and professional development for occasional teachers during the gap. Authier (2012)

also found that “the younger the respondent, the higher they ranked [their] effectiveness” (p. 47).

Perhaps this is because younger teachers are more recent graduates from teacher preparation

programs, are able to actively apply recently acquired teaching skills, and “believe that they

know up-to-date information” (Authier, 2012, p. 51).

Formal Learning

As certified members of the Ontario College of Teachers, all teachers must abide by the

Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession. The standards are (a) commitment to students

and student learning, (b) professional knowledge, (c) leadership in learning communities, (d)

professional practice, and (e) ongoing professional learning (OCT, 2012). These standards all

directly point to the need for lifelong learning and ongoing professional development. This

learning and development needs to be practiced by all teachers, including occasional teachers.


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Formal learning is one way occasional teachers participate in professional development

and continue to remain current and prepared. Pearce (2012) found that many teachers continue

with their professional education by enrolling in additional courses and programs such as

Additional Qualifications (AQs). These courses add to the teachers’ professional qualifications

and are a regular source of professional development. Pollock’s (2010b) report for the

Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario on occasional teachers’ access to professional

learning found “approximately 80% of respondents indicated that they had participated in some

form of formal professional development” (p. 17). They participated for a variety of reasons: to

network, to gain additional qualifications, to build their resumes, to improve teaching practice,

and to learn about board and ministry initiatives and changes. Pollock (2010b) also discovered

that “approximately half (46%) of occasional teachers paid for their own formal professional

learning opportunities,” but it was new teachers that “were more willing to pay for their formal

professional learning” (p. 17). In another study, Pollock (2010a) found that new teachers

“appeared to participate in substantial amounts of formal learning, motivated by the desire to

secure more occasional teaching days or a full-time, permanent teaching position” (para. 18).

In contrast to Pollock’s (2010a, 2010b) findings, the Transition to Teaching 2013 report

determined that

daily supply teachers report much lower levels of involvement in school-

based professional development such as in-school collaborative learning and

school self-evaluation activities. . . . And fewer of them report that they have a

mentor or engage in teacher enquiry. The one area of professional

development that does not show this gap is enrolment in formal courses.

(OCT, 2013, p. 44)

For many occasional teachers, their participation in formal learning demonstrates willingness and

an understanding of the need to remain current and prepared during the gap.


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Informal Learning

According to Pollock (2010a), “informal learning is an integral part of teaching. New

entrants tend to engage in informal learning through either volunteering or while on the job as an

occasional teacher” (para. 17). Pollock (2010b) adds, “While most occasional teachers engage in

some form of formal professional learning, most of their professional learning comes from

informal learning” (p. 19). Informal learning is easy to access and easy to practice. For

permanent teachers, informal learning is something that happens on a daily basis through

discussions with colleagues and working regularly in the same school environment. However,

because the work sites of occasional teachers can literally change every day, “occasional teachers

tend to rely more on informal professional learning that often occurs on-line” (Pollock, 2010b, p.

22).

In Pollock’s (2010b) study on occasional teachers’ access to professional development,

occasional teachers reported participating in the following types of informal learning: having

conversations with other teachers and friends; learning from resource material such as books,

professional publications, and academic journals; collecting resources while working as an

occasional teacher; using material from the internet; and volunteering in the classrooms (p. 18).

Many newly certified teachers, who at first may not be able to secure work as an

occasional teacher, volunteer to get experience and exposure. According to Pearce (2012), new

teachers who choose to be volunteers “are major beneficiaries of the experience. . . . Some may

categorize this volunteer work as ‘unpaid work for self-benefit’” (p. 23) because of the variety of

opportunities it provides. Volunteering leads to a gain in professional knowledge and the

“informal learning from volunteer work supplemented prior teacher education” (Pearce, 2012, p.


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93). Volunteers in Pearce’s (2012) study discussed learning many teaching skills not traditionally

taught in teacher training programs, such as

organizational skills (how to physically set-up a classroom, manage a

daybook, plan and implement field trips, and effectively use preparation

time); teamwork/problem solving/communication skills (working and

collaborating with other teachers); budgeting and financial management

(planning field trips and facilitating charitable campaigns): interpersonal skills

(working with differing personalities of students, teachers, and

administrators); health and well-being (their own, and students who have

particular disabilities). (p. 99)

Volunteering has been helpful in building professional teaching practice as well as helpful for

inexperienced teachers in becoming “better teachers beyond their initial teacher education”

(Pearce, 2012, p. 101). Working as a volunteer in a classroom can aid in the type of learning and

preparation that does not fall under the notion of professional learning. Volunteers can learn

“how schools are organized in Ontario, how to work with other teachers, how to network with

other teachers, how to develop marketing skills, or how to understand the culture or social

processes within the schools” (Pollock, 2008, p. 85).

In terms of the benefits informal learning provides for volunteers, newly certified, and

occasional teachers, Pearce (2012) determines that “in general, it seems as though informal

learning has led to the acquisition of explicit and tacit professional knowledge in many areas,

including curriculum, . . . pedagogy and classroom management; non-instructional duties related

to teaching; and developmental and learning disabilities” (p. 98). Informal learning, it seems, can

provide many of the benefits of formal learning without the drawbacks of formal learning, such

as cost, missed days of work, and loss of time outside the school day.


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School and Board Support for Occasional Teachers

For most schools and school boards in Ontario, the occasional teachers today will

become future permanent classroom teachers. For this reason, it would seem important that

schools and boards invest in their future teachers, their occasional teachers, by providing them

with the support they need and professional development opportunities to keep them up-to-date

and prepared for the classroom. Cherubini’s (2009) study found that “from a North American

perspective, the literature implicitly states that formal and meaningful support for beginning

teachers is critical as they move from teacher candidate to teacher professional” (p. 186). Many

school systems have evolved the practice of inducting new teachers to provide positive learning

cultures. In Ontario,

the New Teacher Induction Program provides support for the early

professional growth and development of entrants to a challenging profession.

First-year NTIP participants in regular teaching jobs say they experienced a

school board orientation (88 per cent), mentoring by an experienced teacher

(90 per cent) and a formal evaluation by their school principal (93 per cent).

(OCT, 2013, p. 38)

In Pollock’s (2010a) study on marginalization and the occasional teacher workforce in Ontario,

one interviewee stated she had been offered and attended “professional development sessions for

occasional teachers in her local region” provided by the school board she was employed by and

the local teachers’ union (para. 10). Some school boards, claim to have an open invitation for all

occasional teachers to attend professional development sessions. Attendance for occasional

teachers on these days, however, is not mandatory because they are not paid, and, therefore, there

is often a poor turnout.

School board support, however, does not consistently happen across all boards for all

new hires, nor for occasional teachers. Pollock (2010b) claims “occasional teachers have been

described as the ‘educational bridge’ when the classroom teacher is absent. Yet, support for this


20

group is limited” (p. 21). The Transition to Teaching 2013 report suggested permanent teachers

“are three to 10 times more likely to receive support than are daily supply teachers. And four in

10 daily supply teachers report that they received none of these key types of new teacher in-

school support” (OCT, 2013, p. 44). If school boards believe “it is important for occasional

teachers to provide effective instruction so that students not lose precious time for learning . . .

[and] that all students can receive the education that they deserve,” then it seems reasonable that

they must provide learning opportunities and systems of support for occasional teachers

(Authier, 2012, p. 9). A school board that does not provide support and professional development

for its occasional teachers cannot reasonably expect those teachers to perform well during

interviews or to be adequately prepared to take over the responsibilities of a permanent teacher.

The study by Welsch (2001) provides a comprehensive strategy for school boards in

their management of occasional teachers including “hiring quality substitutes, maintaining

ongoing professional development, performing routine evaluations, furnishing resources and

support, providing appropriate salary and benefits, and valuing substitutes as staff members” (p.

374). Some might argue that board resources are already stretched too thin to entertain any new

services that do not generate the additional revenue to offset the expenditure. The problem with

this argument is that it precludes creative strategies that may solve problems that have not been

seen to be problems such as issues involving occasional teachers. A basic question for boards

needs to be addressed: How effective are the strategies, policies, and practices in the use of

occasional teachers to support student learning? This study of occasional teachers’ preparedness

shows that occasional teachers do not appear to generate “serious attention” at the board level,

nor at individual schools.


21

Reasons Occasional Teachers Are Unprepared

The occasional teacher experiences being excluded on a regular basis. This happens

whenever there is “a planned absence due to professional development training. . . . Substitute

teachers provide the necessary cover while ironically receiving few opportunities for adequate

training that addresses their unique needs and experiences” (Damianos, 2012, p. 28). Permanent

classroom teachers are given regular opportunities to receive professional development and

training to remain current and adequately prepared, yet it doesn’t appear to matter whether the

teachers replacing classroom teachers are current or prepared.

Although occasional teachers have been and will continue to be part of every school’s

landscape, they appear to suffer from low expectations such as those reported by Clifton and

Rambaran (1987):

Substitute teachers are often asked by administration and regular teachers to

act as baby-sitters and “keep house” until the “real teacher” gets back. The

attitude of some administrators and regular teachers is that the students will

not learn anything while the regular teacher is away, so all that a substitute

has to do is maintain a reasonable degree of order and discipline. (p. 317)

Regular teachers would normally not be permitted to continue teaching with such poor

expectations. Occasional teachers often do not “develop secure identities as teachers, in part

because of the uneven support of school personnel and also possibly because of the lack of

personal and focused help” (Duggleby & Badali, 2007, p. 31). Many occasional teachers receive

low expectations partly because of lack of professional attention. This can be seen when “daily

supply teacher professional support deficits are . . . evident in comparing access to school

orientation, principal evaluations and mentoring by experienced teachers” (OCT, 2013, p. 44).

Occasional teachers need to be aware that their competence can be an issue for regular teachers.

Authier (2012) refers to Glatfelter’s (2006) study that found “regular classroom teachers view


22

occasional teachers as lacking the competence to effectively manage classrooms and to

effectively teach the curriculum and use instructional strategies” (p. 13).

Not being part of the regular teaching staff has serious negative consequences for

occasional teachers with respect to their own needs for professional development. They are

effectively excluded from the schools’ professional development activities for systemic and

practical reasons. Systemic obstacles are often not observed by anyone except those who are

negatively affected. Some of these obstacles are (a) professional development activities are often

scheduled during the daytime hours, (b) activities are planned for the regular teachers and not

designed to accommodate others in the sessions, and (c) occasional teachers are not a priority

and attend only after all regular teachers are accommodated. Practical reasons include (a)

occasional teachers not wanting to lose a day's pay for attending sessions when they would

normally cover for the regular teachers attending the activity, (b) not wanting nor able to pay for

the professional development training which is free to the regular staff, and (c) not having any

guarantee that attending professional development sessions will lead to regular appointment.

An occasional teacher interviewed in Duggleby and Badali’s (2007) study stated that as

an occasional teacher “you’re excluded from any conferences or workshops or if there’s room

they’ll let you come” (p. 29). The same teacher states that for occasional teachers

it was next to impossible to participate in professional development because

they were wait-listed after contract teachers. Making matters worse, most

events took place during the day when the substitute teachers may be working

for those same teachers who are taking part in professional development.

(Duggleby & Badali, 2007, p. 30)

In Pollock’s (2010b) report on occasional teachers’ access to professional learning,

only 19% indicated that they had not participated in any form of professional learning, and 42%

indicated that there were no opportunities for formal professional learning. The remaining 58%


23

indicated that there were opportunities for professional learning, but for personal reasons they

chose not to participate (p. 19). Some of the reasons given for not participating in professional

learning include not having enough time, not finding the cost reasonable, not seeing the need to

participate in any kind of formal professional learning, not having formal professional learning

available for occasional teachers in their area, and not easily accessing information about formal

professional learning (Pollock, 2010b, p. 34). Additionally, it is unfortunate for occasional

teachers that “professional teacher associations, although theoretically acknowledging the

professional membership of substitute teachers, do not include them in professional activities”

(Dugglebly & Badali, 2007, p. 22).

The Ontario Ministry of Education collaborated with the Ontario College of Teachers

and established “a substantial induction program to support new teachers in the first three years

of teaching” (Cherubini, 2009, p. 186). The problem with the New Teacher Induction Program

(NTIP) as it exists now is that no parts of it are offered to occasional teachers, who are mostly

new teachers. A teacher, therefore, may only be going through the NTIP after having been in the

profession for several years because of the current job situation in Ontario.

Given the extensive delay for occasional teachers to be hired as permanent teachers,

there is evidence now that “the longer occasional teachers spend working in occasional teaching

positions, the lower their job satisfaction . . . [while] gradually decreas[ing] their commitment to

the profession” (Authier, 2012, p. 55). Although there is much that boards need to do, Authier

(2012) finds, “the literature suggests that improving occasional teacher effectiveness is not just

the responsibility of the administration and school boards, but that occasional teachers also play

a large role in increasing their own effectiveness” (p. 12).


24

Conclusion

Herein we illuminate via current and available literature, the ways and extent

occasional teachers remain prepared to teach while they search for permanent employment. We

realize that occasional teaching is now a two-tier system of seniority, and rosters dictate who

may get interviewed for permanent positions. While only LTO teachers can be supported in the

NTIP this excludes many STO teachers. STO seems to be less supported as they get less time in

schools. Many teacher unions and educational activists are calling for the refinement or erasure

of Ontario Regulation 274/12 and even the current Ontario (provincial) government has admitted

the regulation is imperfect (Ferguson et al., 2013).

The limited research on the preparedness of newly certified teachers suggests new

teachers would benefit from more time spent in the classroom during their teaching training (Al-

Bataineh, 2009). This additional time would enhance classroom management skills which is an

area in which newly certified teachers are said to struggle (Authier, 2012; Ryan 2010).

Admittedly, working as an ST or LT occasional teacher can provide newly certified teachers

with much needed experience in the classroom as well as compel new teachers to learn a variety

of management strategies in order to survive in the world of occasional teaching. Occasional

teaching, both STO and LTO, however, does not appear to provide new teachers with a complete

picture of the “teaching experience.” Occasional teachers are not given the many responsibilities

and challenges experienced by their permanent colleagues (Damianos, 2012). Non-permanent

teachers prepare differently, often lack rapport with school and local teachers, and may lack

expertise in key areas such as classroom management.


25

There are even more challenges for occasional teachers. Because of their extended time

waiting for permanent teaching employment, (LT/ST) occasional teachers must find ways to

remain current and prepared for the realities of being a permanent teacher.

Some occasional teachers (LT) are more fortunate and are provided with support and

professional development (online and face-to-face) by the schools and boards they are employed

by. Many STO teachers who do not receive such support from their schools and boards must

participate in various forms of formal and informal learning, such as volunteering, at their own

expense. We know that there are significant structural obstacles and imperfect regulations, such

as 274/12 which establishes occasional teacher seniority (ST/LT) and a roster system which was

meant to correct dysfunctional hiring practices in the teacher employment market (Elementary

Teachers Federation). Yet, the regulation needs refinement (Ferguson et al., 2013).

Overall, the path taken by (ST/LT) occasional teachers during the gap is not

predictable; although the path does lead to possible employment, there are no guarantees: “New

teachers can face years of unpredictable and unreliable work, and will experience fierce

competition for that work” (Saunders, 2013, p. 1). In order to be prepared for the possibility of

permanent employment, there is much that occasional teachers can do, especially if the school

boards they work for, and unions step up to provide the opportunities and take an interest in

investing in these future teachers.


26

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